171
ith us 'the common wave'--to be touched by it--touched by our hope. It is as though we had made them realize at last how starved, how shut out, we have been--we, half the thinking nation!--for so long!"
"Don't--don't be too confident!" she entreated. "Aren't you--isn't it natural you should miscalculate the forces against you? Oh! they are so strong! and--and so noble."
She drew in her breath, and he understood her.
"Strong indeed," he said gravely. "But--"
Then a smile broke in.
"Have I been boasting? You see some signs of swelled head? Perhaps you are right. Now let me tell you what the other side are doing. That chastens one! There is a conference of Bishops next week; there was one a week ago. These are of course thundering resolutions in Convocation. The English Church Union has an Albert Hall meeting; it will be magnificent. A 'League of the Trinity' has started against us, and will soon be campaigning all over England. The orthodox newspapers are all in full cry. Meanwhile the Bishops are only waiting for the decision of my case--the test case--in the lower court to take us all by detachments. Every case, of course, will go ultimately to the Supreme Court--the Privy Council. A hundred cases--that will take time! Meanwhile--from us--a monster petition--first to the Bishops for the assembling of a full Council of the English Church, then to Parliament for radical changes in the conditions of membership of the Church, clerical and lay."
Mary drew in her breath.
"You _can't_ win! you _can't_ win!"
And he saw in her clear eyes her sorrow for him and her horror of the conflict before him.
"That," he said quietly, "is nothing to us. We are but soldiers under command."
He rose; and, suddenly, she realized with a fluttering heart how empty that room would be when he was gone. He held out his hand to her.
"I must go and prepare what I have to say to-night. The Church Council consists of about thirty people--two thirds of them will be miners